47 The master and his student

The scenery before me got hazy as Moon wolf and the elder god of dreams came into play. The former had been cast into some sort of illusion while I watched him fight with his demons which had supposedly come to life.

"I'M SO GLAD I DON'T HAVE TO FIGHT AGAINST THAT GUY," Callipso whined in his seat.

"Why so?" I inquired. "All he does is cast illusions and dreams, that does not compare to the raw powers each elder possess."

He roared out in laughter, "IF ONLY YOU KNEW HOW DANGEROUS VILGA ACTUALLY IS."

Folding my arms in a sarcastic way, I walked around the palace which seemed to have no end, "Enlighten me."

"WELL, SINCE YOU ASKED NICELY," he began while I rolled my eyes in response. "WHAT IF I TOLD YOU THIS WHOLE BATTLE AND FIGHT WHICH YOU HAVE BEEN WATCHING WAS ALL A LIE AND IT WAS ONE BIG ILLUSION."

"That's impossible..."

"IS IT? BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE YOUR DEFINITION OF POWER IS SPEED AND STRENGTH BUT NOT SMARTS."

He was onto something but I deemed it impossible for everything I had watched to be an illusion. All those people had died due to the waves of raw powers on the field, not due to dreams or illusions cast by this elder.

"OF COURSE I'M NOT SAYING THAT HE DID CAST ILLUSIONS ON EVERYONE, BUT IF HE WANTED TO HE COULD HAVE AND NO ONE, NOT EVEN ME OR JARUMA WOULD SURVIVE HIS TRICKERY."

Looking back at Moon wolf who knelt on the ground struggling with its inescapable illusion, I pitied the poor creature.

"How about you try your little trickery with me?" Raïs said with a sly smile on his face. I had some sort of hope knowing the new god of wisdom was more than capable of tanking the elders mind storms.

"Ahhhh yes, Raïs," the elder chuckles, sitting on a shattered column. "You're supposed to be discount me."

"I wouldn't say discount..."

"Oh but you are. What are your powersets again?"

The new god sighs, "Same as yours."

"Same?"

"Maybe not on the same level but I'm still strong..."

"Let me give you a better analysis, while I'm at a hundred, you are at sixty. Pretty impressive but not for someone like me."

"Very true."

"Hahaha, and you say you're not my fosterling. I trained and bestowed you with those powers after your creation. I am your god!"

"You will lose..."

"You looking into the future doesn't make it a sure thing..."

"But it does. You focused more on using your powers for torture and creating mirages and dreams, while I trained on knowing what awaits us all in the future, even if it contained matters about my doom."

"Oh please, you couldn't even save your life if it ever came down to that part. You made yourself weak by abandoning what would have made you an elder god. You were the first new god to be created. We gave you a chance to stay and rule with us in the pantheon but what did you do?"

"I rejected it..."

"You rejected it, exactly," snided the elder god. "Seeing the future is boring, you know what isn't boring, torturing mortals, that's what's not boring."

"And because of this I know exactly where to hit you and kill you."

"I'd like to see you try."

"Already did," the new god smiles revealing a blade which had pierced through the elder gods chest.

The elder looks at his bleeding body to find a sword stuck in him, "That was a distraction?"

"I don't like to kill because I'm kind of an unfair advantage in battle. You grew cocky and prideful leaving yourself vulnerable to these attacks."

"How... did you... do it?" the god asked almost out of breath.

"Not that it matters anyway, but I'll tell you," Raïs answered making his way to the elder. "While we were having our beautiful conversation and you were revelling in your abilities, I created a duplicate of myself which I snuck out..."

"That doesn't make any sense..."

"What doesn't make any sense?"

"I could have... sensed it. The duplicate you made, I could have... sensed it."

"Yes, you could have, but from the beginning of the battle on earth, I had created a mirage over you. I dulled your senses Vilga. I did something you deemed impossible and I made it possible."

The elder god coughed out, blood spurting from his nostrils, "This is the end I see."

"Yes it is," Raïs sobbed touching the elders cheek. "I really wish there was some other way."

"Hush boy!" rebuked the dying god. "If there is anything I'm glad I died by your hands."

The both of them looked into each other's eyes with overwhelming sadness. The master and his student, the guardian and his fosterling. The pink aura which flowed around the elder blinked with unsteady rhythm, the new god noticing the damage which had been done let out more tears.

"No," he said. "I can fix this."

But as he turned to the other gods still fighting, the elder pulled him back, "Take this, I don't have much time."

"No I absolutely cannot..."

"Take it!" the elder insisted removing a silver charm locket from his neck which he handed over to his student. Peering at it, I found it to be the same necklace which Ang had entrusted to me before her death. Instinctively touching the locket on my neck, I felt the cold metal against my fingers causing me to remember the promise I had made to Ang.

"I can fix this," Raïs cried. "It's not over yet."

"For me it is, for you, there's still a thousand more years before you join me in Nirvana."

Raïs at this stage was covered in tears as well as the blood of his master, "I won't forget you."

"I know you won't," he smiled in return with his aura fading into darkness. He was dying and the god seemed happy to do so unlike his comrades. "I never intended to fight against you anyway, I've always loved you like a son. My love for you is stronger than my loyalty to... Jaruma."

The gods words had gotten weaker with him hacking a whistled cough accompanied by blood.

"I shall surely miss you," the new god sobbed hugging his dying master. "Marcheth on into Nirvana master Vilga."

The elder puts his arms around the god his hand glowing a bright pink before dropping onto the ground in a tired fashion. The god of mirages and dreams was gone, the fight had been won.

"I don't understand," I said out loud. "How come he didn't try to fight back like his fellow warriors? They did try to fight back but he just... gave up."

"OH XERXES, SOMETIMES WE NEVER KNOW WHAT THESE GODS ARE THINKING," he replied with caution.

Moon wolf who had been under the spell of Vilga fell to the ground, blood pouring from his nostrils. He was exhausted and even when Raïs aided in rising the creature up to its feet, it collapsed back onto the ground in exhaustion.

"Do you need help?" Aurora asked from the skies swooping down to avoid colliding with an enraged Uranus who was still battling Jaruma.

Raïs nodded in relief as the goddess created a barrier over the two creatures before flying towards her main target in the battlefield.